This wasn’t your ordinary signing day.
The Sacramento Kings hosted an impromptu event in the front office of their practice facility Wednesday afternoon, announcing the official signings of NBA veterans Quincy Acy and Seth Curry and undrafted free agent Duje Dukan (Wisconsin). Kings Vice President of Basketball and Franchise Operations Vlade Divac also made an appearance.
Cowbell Kingdom listened in as Curry and Dukan addressed the small media scrum.
Players Notes and Quotes
- Seth Curry on talking with his brother, Stephen: “We talked for a while yesterday, about opportunities, before I knew I was going to sign here, and then afterwards. Like I said, he’s just a big fan, I mean like I’m of his, and it’s my brother so I mean we’re real close. We talk all the time and he’s very happy for me about this opportunity. It’s going to be fun to lace ’em up against him the next couple months.”
- Curry on why the Kings are a good fit: “Yeah, I mean a few reasons. I mean it’s an up and coming team. I think the opportunity is there for me to come in here and try to make my mark, try to establish myself with this team, and I like the pace of play that they’re trying to play here with coach Karl, and there’s a lot of guys here who come here with something they feel they need to prove in the league, whether it’s Rondo trying to establish himself again, one of the best point guards. Guys like myself who want to establish themselves in the league from the beginning. So I’m excited about this.”
- Curry on what he’s needed to prove since turning pro: “I’m not sure, I’m not sure. I just wanted to go out there and continue to play well, and just everytime I step on the court, just be the best player I can be. I mean I wouldn’t really focus on what the critics were saying, where people were saying I needed to do this or that. I just wanted to get better all around. And I think the Summer League play, I scored the ball like I usually do. I think defensively, just being a pest, and showing I can make an impact on the defensive end at a high level was the difference.”
- Curry on playing point or off guard: “Absolutely. That’s what I’ve done my whole life, pretty much. Playing the point guard position, with the ball in my hands a lot, or playing off the ball, being able to stretch the floor, shoot the ball, just score without the ball in my hands for the majority of the time. I think that’s just natural to me. I think that’s one of the things that I can bring to the table, is I’m not set at one position. That I can play both.”
- Curry on playing time having a role in his signing: “Absolutely. Like I said, it’s a great opportunity to come here, basketball-wise, to make an impact on this team, I mean that’s what I want. I just didn’t want to come to a place where I’d just be in the league and not really get an opportunity to play. I want to come in here and help this team win.”
- Curry on when the Kings showed interest: “I think a couple days ago. I got a couple offers from a couple teams, but from being in Summer League, I thought I was going to be with New Orleans to be honest. It just seemed like a good fit. But when I heard about the Kings and what they were bringing to the table, and what opportunity I would have here to come in and play and help this team and kind of look at the stuff that they need, I felt like it was a great situation for me.”
- Curry on the Kings’ offense: “Just watching it from afar, it seems a lot of fun to play in. Just a fast-paced, up-and-down style, kind of similar to what we played in Vegas. What coach Gentry was trying to do there. Just trying to pick up the pace a little bit, compared to how they played in the past. Similar to what they’re doing in Sac, if they play kind of slower, come in and pick up the pace, and turn defense into offense and spread the floor, and it should be a fun pace to play. Especially with guys like DeMarcus, man, how much attention he’s obviously going to track, we’re going to need as many shooters as possible.”
- Curry on how to guard his brother, Stephen: “I’m not sure. I don’t think anybody’s figured that out yet. But I’ve had some success with him, success against him in one-on-one games so we’ll try to figure it out.”
- Duje Dukan on his role with the Kings: “Yeah definitely. Helping the team in any way that they need it. Stretch four is definitely a possibility. You know I can spread the floor with the shooting, but I can also take the big guys off the dribble. Realistically, any position that the coaches need me, I can help out.”
- Dukan on the importance of Summer League: “It was huge, it was huge. I think except for the Kings, I don’t think a lot of people really knew about me. So it was a good, good platform to showcase what I can do, and kind of further solidify myself as to whatnot, confirm what they believed about me. I just had fun, I showed people what I can do, and hopefully continue to do that in my time here.”
- Dukan on finishing out Summer League: “Well obviously our record wasn’t that great in Vegas, so we just tried to take each game by itself. You know, trying to win every game. Down the stretch, it was tough. Just try to put forth as good as an effort as I possibly could. And at the end of the day, I think I did a pretty good job. Put me in a pretty good situation right now, so I’m really excited to be here.”
- Dukan on coaches’ feedback in Summer League: “Well originally they told me that they really liked what I did out there. You know, that they loved the effort. Obviously the shooting ability, that I was able to open up for the guards to drive and the bigs to post up. But I think the other thing too is they were saying, obviously there’s a chance, we’d love to have you at camp, and then things kind of progressed pretty quickly and I ended up getting a contract.”
- Dukan on getting more contract offers after Summer League: “Yeah, but you know at the end of the day this was the best one for me, without a doubt. I think these guys understand me. The system that coach Karl runs, we ran it a little bit in the Summer League. It gives a lot of freedom to the four man and especially with a four man that can shoot the ball, it opens up opportunities for the guards and big men. So I think it’s a very exciting opportunity for me.”
- Dukan on what he wants to improve: “In my game? You know, everything. I don’t think there’s any one thing that I can pinpoint. I think it’s collectively, as a basketball player, you just contanstly have to get better. Especially if you want to stick around in the league, you have to make adjustments constantly. So you know I want to get stronger, I want to get quicker, work on my defense, continue to work on my different facets of my offensive game. So I think, collectively just get better as an overall player.”
- Dukan on having Peja Stojakovic to talk to: “Definitely. Definitely, that’s a huge part of it. You know, having a guy like that who’s so highly acclaimed. 3-point shooter, well not just 3-point shooter, but shooter in general. So to have somebody like that to talk to, and bounce ideas off was tremendous. You know, obviously getting feedback and now having him hopefully around here will definitely open up some good opportunities for me.”
With Acy, Curry and Dukan signed, the Kings roster stands at 16 players.
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